A D&D character I created has the trait, "I like to memorize poetry." And as soon as I chose this, I thought, "Uh-oh. I'd better write some fantasy-seeming poetry that might be relevant in a few gaming contexts." So that is what I've done. These are snippets, not full poems, since full poems would be long and boring.
Dagger or rapier,
Parry or thrust;
The blade in your hand
Is the one you can trust.
--Old military rhyme; Anonymous
Some versions of this say "Claymore or rapier" and "the sword in your hand," to avoid the unseemly associations of daggers with thievery. But this verse almost certainly originated among thieves, the sense being that any blades you don't control are likely pointed at your back.
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This one's a little rude/NSFW. Your fantasy world may vary. The rest are clean, I promise.
My horse is like a pegasus
Except without the feathers.
My dog is like a dire wolf
But needs much weaker tethers.
My chest is like a mimic, but
It doesn’t play a trick.
And I am like a centaur, but
Without a horse’s prick.
--Vulgar rhyme attributed to Runaway Jack of Harborton
There are, as you might imagine, dozens of versions of this rhyme, with more being invented every year. Some of them are even polite.
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Dragons rule with greed and power
Till their time on earth is through;
Dragons never live forever
Dragons only think they do.
--From “A Lay About Dragons”, by Elegine of Highport (Bard)
This is the most-quoted linefrom Elegine’s famous “Lay About Dragons,” which was actually a veiled series of attacks on King Thar III. Popular among revolutionaries and dragon-slayers alike.
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The silverbark’s great leaves now curl. The chill
Of frosttide hasn’t come, and yet the smell
Of snow is on the wind that touches all
With its robe’s sweeping hem
And I, too, curl beside the trunk and wonder
If I will see my home before the winter.
This bed of bark and rocks has worn me tender
Yet still I sleep and dream.
--The Venturer’s Repose, by Bartonel Felwyn
[Author's note: the silverbark is a Forgotten Realms tree. Replace it with whatever meters in your world.]
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When we have slain the beast that plagues our kingdom, dearest brother
We’ll slay the next, and then the next, and every next one after.
And when the last is slain, we’ll know a time of peace and laughter.
Until the only monsters left, I fear, will be each other.
--The Fall of Netheril (play), by Ranar Torvingast
This is in Act IV, Scene vii, right before the climactic battle with the Black Beast of the Downs. Prince Estinvar says it to his brother Horrigan, if anyone asks.
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Dickory Dockery
Snickery Mockery
Someone’s the dumber whenever there’s two.
Tockery Tickory
Hop on a hickory
If you think otherwise, maybe it’s you!
--Traditional gnomish taunt
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Halavarin swung her saber
Pressed by foes on every side
Heedless in her battle’s labor
Whirling with a lightsome stride
Slicing arms and legs and head, and,
As the field of battle reddened
She grew painted with their blood,
Ankle-deep in gory mud.
As she plied her royal duty
Garrin looked and caught his breath.
Though she filled the air with death
Never had he seen such beauty
Then he knew he wished to wive
If, by hap, they’d both survive...
From The Song of Princess Halavarin, by Elona Twinborn
[Author’s note: this is actually something called an Onegin Stanza, invented by Russian author and poet Alexander Pushkin. But it’s got such a demented rhyme scheme it feels like something needlessly complicated that elves would come up with. I also wanted it to be something some warrior might gleefully recite in the middle of fighting off a bunch of orcs.]
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Breath
Birth
Burn
Earth
Dirt
Gleam
Rain
Steam
-- Traditional Genasi Inscription
This is only one translation of the most well known--and frankly only known--ancient genasi poems, which is often inscribed on temples and near burial mounds. The entire poem is actually only six symbols written in a circle (where the symbol for “earth” and “dirt” are the same, as is the one for “breath” and “steam/aspire”). It purportedly describes, in its first line, the process of living as a series of moving through the four elements, where “birth” is water, and “burn” is the fire of life that burns itself out. The second line, much more mysterious, describes death as part of a cycle of rebirth; the last line is an intake of breath that also causes the dead body--or perhaps only the soul--to rise like steam. Many have sought to unlock the mystery of this poem and its symbolism in hopes of rediscovering an ancient process to raise the dead. Most modern scholars, however, believe that it’s just a poem.
(The second line is also translated “Dirt-Fire-Rain-Aspire” with “aspire” meaning both to rise and to breathe in, but this doesn’t capture the subtle action implied in the original. There are many more translations that don’t even bother to rhyme, though the original genasi version does.)
[Author's note: for non-D&D folks, genasi are like human-elemental hybrids.]
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Beyond the brawl and bash of bloody battle
After the axe and arrow are asleep
There gleams the gory glitter of guilty gold,
The coins that kingly killing claims to clean.
Prize not the pile that pays its price in pain.
Win it once, then wish it well away.
--from Apothegms and Advices, by Gelendin Silverbeard, a dwarven poet who stands out for her consistently skeptical anti-greed stance.
[Author’s note: When you write Old English-style alliterative rhyme, it always winds up sounding Dwarvish to me.]